Posted by Old City Green
under Blog, News on Thu 19 Apr 2012
Happy Earth Day!
(Sunday April 22nd)
“The fight for a clean environment continues in a climate of increasing urgency, as the ravages of climate change become more manifest every day.
We invite you to be a part of Earth Day and help write many more victories and successes into our history. Discover energy you didn’t even know you had. Feel it rumble through the grassroots under your feet and the technology at your fingertips. Channel it into building a clean, healthy, diverse world for generations to come.”
- www.earthday.org
Want to celebrate? Check out our selection of perennials, annuals, edibles, and more. Encourage your friends and family to spend the day in the dirt and connect with nature!
Digging for OIL at
OLD CITY green
Prior to OLD CITY green, the lot on 9th and N used to be a gas station and car dealership. There are still drums underneath the surface. We have been told that the soil is “brown soil”. This means it will have to be extracted, shipped, and disposed of at a “burning facility”.
It’s 2012 and there are ways of taking
care of this problem that respect our environment!
- Oyster Mushrooms and other varieties of fungi have been proven to break down oil and other contaminates.
- Oil eating microbes
- Utilizing various vegetation to filter the soil and bring in beneficial organisms such as worms
We think there is a greener way!
Check out our other
videos on the left hand side!
-
Thank you Shaw Main Streets
for giving us the
*Shaw Community Partner Award*
- Now at OLD CITY green!
20% OFF
Live Lady bugs
and
Praying mantis eggs
Did you know a single lady bug can eat up to 5,000 aphids in it’s lifetime??
The praying mantis can turn it’s head
300 degrees, and hunts everything from moths, aphids, mosquitoes, and more!
(Not too mention sometimes the female will eat her partner after mating!)
A great solution to the garden pest problem!
Help give these cute,
beneficial critters a home!!
- We’re thrilled to be part of @Live Green’s Green Rush for Earth Day this year!
Don’t miss this amazing scavenger hunt and the chance at $1,000 grand prize. Ticket sales end soon - get yours here: livegreen.net/greenrush2012
- Wondering why the maple trees might be looking a little different this year??
Check out this great piece by Sandy Farber, Extension educator, DC Master Gardener program coordinator at the bottom of this page!
A SEEDY START TO SPRING. Throughout the city I have noticed a strange look and color to many maple tree canopies. Upon closer inspection the cause is clearly due to most maples having a very seedy appearance! Due to the incredible warm, dry weather this spring, maple flowers were fully pollinated, which in turn means every single MAPLE SAMARA or winged seed, whirligigs or maple helicopters, is currently under development. This extreme seed load and their subsequent development and ripening, is expected to result in sparse, dinky foliage development on maple trees this spring. Normal leaf development is slowed and reduced by the quadrillion maple seeds ripening, using most of the stored resources of the tree. The seeds mature, turn brown and then fall off to cover every square inch of the earth, easily filling and plugging all rain gutters. However, the anxiety is most intense after the seeds fall because there is no apparent reason for the “thinning canopy” and lack of leaves. Many will be concerned about the overall health of their trees, while others erroneously associate heavy seed production with the last hurrah of stressed, dying trees.
Maple trees are capable of producing many seeds each year, but the limiting factor tends to be the weather, specifically those quick freezes and frosts after seed set. Without some type of freeze or frost to kill or injure these developing seeds, the die is cast for scores of samaras to rain down from the trees. This year just happened to be one that favored maple seed development. Remember that heavy seed production is not necessarily a good indicator of tree health nor should it be used as an indicator of impending tree death. It just means that well-timed freezes are needed to reduce the seed numbers, or hope for a really strong wind to blow them all to the neighbor’s yard!
By Sandy Farber, Extension educator, DC master gardener program coordinator.
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